Janet's Mission 6: Meet the Carters
by Dancing Through Life
Summary: Janet's Mission Part 6. Jack still refuses to go in for his booster shot, so he runs away far away. Please read the other Janet's Mission stories first.
1. Hit The Road

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: This is the sixth installment in the Janet's Mission series. However, I have this idea of how I want to end the series, and to do that without making it a super long series, I needed a transition story. Turns out that one needed to be longer then all the rest put together. And even though the series is supposed to be her mission, it also doesn't feature Janet as much. Go figure, right? This one has multiple chapters, unlike the others, and I think I actually like it better then the others as well. Another thing – I have not seen all the Stargate episodes, and I have not seen any where Sam does more than mention Mark and his family. I've taken a lot of liberties with them, so no flames please. I'm doing my best. Anyway, I've had a blast writing it. Enjoy!

"Sir, you're being a little paranoid, aren't you?" Sam asked her commanding officer as he waddled down the hallways of the SGC in his hockey equipment which was complete except for the skates.

"Carter, until I know that shrimp of a friend of yours has stopped poking me full of holes, I'll do whatever it takes to deter her."

"You know you have downtime coming up, right Sir?"

"And I'm using it to go far, far away. Got any ideas where I could hide for the week we have off?"

"Well, you know Janet, Sir. Wherever you are, she'll find you."

"Don't I." O'Neill grumbled.

"Why don't you go to your cabin in Minnesota, Sir?"

"She's been there. She'll know where I am. I have to figure out someplace where she'll never think to find me."

"Well, if you're interested, Sir, when I told Mark that I might have some downtime coming up, he invited me out to San Diego to see him and the kids. I'm sure he won't mind if you come along if I explain the situation to him, and Janet would never think of you going out to see my family, especially since my niece and nephew are both under fourteen."

"Carter?" O'Neill asked, stopping before the locker room.

"Yes Sir?"

"Is this brother of yours younger or older than you are?"

"Older, Sir. By two years."

"Well then. I may have been an only child, but that does not mean that I do not have buddies with little sisters. Sorry Carter, I don't think he would appreciate it very much if his little sister showed up on his doorstep with a man that you are not related to. The offer is very generous, but I don't think I'll be able to take you up on it without becoming even more bruised than if I just went to the little dictator."

Sam shrugged.

"Well, if you change your mind, I'm buying my ticket tomorrow morning. Let me know before then if you change your mind."

"Understood," O'Neill answered, and paddled into the locker room to change.

O'Neill's alarm clock read 10:22 and he knew it was time for bed.

Today had been very productive. He had been able to fend off three possible attacks from Doctor Frasier (He had never loved the Black Hawks so much), had yelled at Felger, had managed to make Daniel throw him out of his office, had stayed on Hammond's good side, and did not get his lyme booster.

Overall, very successful.

The clean sheets felt good against his legs. His knee felt less achey, as it had been before he jumped out of that plane in Iraq.

He was running, running through a forest. He knew that forest. It was the woods behind his cabin in Minnesota, one of the few places in the universe where he could go to find peace.

He came to a field, a very peaceful field.

On the other side of the field was a shining white light. It wasn't a tunnel – that was clear, so Jack knew that walking toward it would not mean "Good Night, my someone, good night".

On closer look, Jack could see that it was a woman.

And then his jaw dropped.

It was Carter.

But it was not the Carter he knew – the tense, workaholic scientist. This Carter was perfectly relaxed. Her hair was damp, as if she had just gotten out of the shower, and the dress she wore showed her figure perfectly.

She looked like something out of Ancient Greece.

She smiled and walked to him. Jack tried to say something, but he was mesmerized and paralyzed.

"Jack," she whispered seductively.

He grunted an answer.

Carter threw her head back and laughed and to Jack's horror, when she straightened up again, it was not Carter he was looking at.

It was Doc Frasier.

She had that gleam in her eye, the one that Jack had come to learn meant that a needle was on it's way to his arm. Jack was not freed from his spell and could not do anything but scream as Janet poked him numerous times.

Jack woke with a start.

The alarm clock read 11:05.

And that was when Jack knew that Janet would not sleep until she had her way with the needles. And if Janet didn't sleep, neither did he. His only option was to go far, far away.

And besides the obvious fear of that five foot two menace, what the hell was Carter doing in that dress in the dream all about?

Carter.

She would still be awake.

Jack grabbed the phone and set a new record for dialing his 2IC.

"Carter." The pickup had been immediate. He knew her way too well.

"Carter? It's O'Neill."

"Hi Sir. Is there an emergency on the base?"

"No. I just wanted to ask if your offer to San Diego was still good."

"I hate commercial airports" Jack muttered for the five hundredth time that day.

"Well I'm sorry, Sir, but the Air Force doesn't let us use their bases for downtime, you know that."

"Don't I ever." The trip had not been a pleasant one for the Colonel.

To begin with, O'Neill was so sure that Janet was going to pop up in front of him somewhere that he had worn the Black Hawks uniform to the airport, only to have airport security require him to take it off to enter the premises. The flight had then been an hour late only to find that it had been overbooked. They had been forced to wait yet another hour while seats were made available on another flight.

It also turned out that Jack didn't like flying unless he was the one piloting the plane and turbulence had been high.

Luckily for Carter, the flight from Colorado Springs to San Diego was only an hour and a half.

"Carter! Is your brother here?" O'Neill barked, trying to take his mind off that god awful flight.

"He shouldn't be, I told him we were going to rent – "

"Sam!" A voice called. To Jack's surprise, a sandy haired man was running towards them. Sam's eyes widened.

"Mark!" Sam said, throwing her arms around him. "I told you we were going to rent a car!"

Jack surveyed the two of them, and it was clear, even to someone who had never met either of them, that they were in someway related. To those who knew Jacob Carter, it was clear that they were brother and sister. Mark, even though he was blond, had darker, sandier hair than his sister but closely resembled Jacob. Sam looked like Jacob in her own way, but there was another side to her. Maybe she looked like her mother – the mother who had died years before Jack had met Sam.

"I know, but Gracie and Seth really wanted to see you." Mark said, and on closer look Jack could see two kids looking up at his 2IC.

Obviously, Carter hadn't seen them either, because as soon as Mark said this, her eyes widened. She disentangled herself from her brother and got to her knees.

"Hi you guys!" She said as they swarmed and hugged her. "How are you?"

"Normal." The boy said. Oh, Jack knew that attitude. He was trying to be a man, so he didn't want to seem like a sissy by hugging his aunt, but at the same time he wanted to be close to her.

"Aunt Sam! Remember that last email I sent you? I've got more to update you on!"

"That's so cool, Grace!" Sam squealed, sounding like a love struck teenager. She was adult enough to notice the eyebrow that Mark was raising at them. "Let me know later, okay?"

And that was where Jack could not help but chuckle. He tried to hide it, but was unsuccessful. He ended up snorting into his coat. It did, however, distract Carter long enough to remember that she had brought him along.

"Oh! Right. Sorry Sir. Mark, this is my commanding officer, Colonel Jack O'Neill. Colonel, this is my brother Mark." She got to her knees again.

"And this is Grace and this is Seth." She wrapped her arms around each of them as she said it. Seth instantly broke away, but Grace just cuddled more into Sam.

"Colonel! It's so nice to finally meet you," Mark said, reaching out to shake Jack's hand.

"Please, call me Jack," Jack answered warmly. "I'd like to thank you for inviting me out here with your sister. I really appreciate getting out of Colorado at the moment."

"Hey, no sweat. Sam told me things were a little rough at the base right now. My wife, Kara, is so excited to see Sam and to meet you." Jack stole a look at Carter playing with the kids. She was having a rough time at the moment? How was he not aware of this?

Because it was Carter, that was why.

"Yes, well, business as usual," Jack said with a smile. "Shall we go collect that which we came with?"

"What? Oh, the luggage, right. Grace, Seth, let's go get Auntie Sam and Colonel Jack's suitcases."

"Kara, these mashed potatoes are excellent." Sam said at the dinner table that night.

"Oh, thanks Sam." Kara stole a look at the kids. "Hear that? Aunt Sammy likes mashed potatoes."

"I'm not Aunt Sammy. I don't have to like them just because she does." Insisted Seth.

"Yes, well, someday you'll be mature enough to know what to and what not to say at the dinner table." Kara sighed.

"So, Jack, what was it on base that made you want to get out of Colorado so badly?" Mark asked.

"Mark – " Sam started.

"What? I'm just wondering."

"It's okay, Sam. Well, do put it simply, I got Lyme's disease in a situation I can't go into – "

"Let me guess – classified?"

"Yes. Anyway, it turns out that this particular form of Lyme's is very rare, and even though I'm no longer feeling like sh-shoot, the doctor is after my hide with boosters every day. I wanted one week where I could go somewhere far, far away and give my poor skin a chance to heal."

"That's understandable, though." Mark thought pensively. "How long has she been after you?"

"About three weeks."

"Wow. Well, you and Sam can stay as long as you want to. And I promise, there will be no Dr. Evil here."

Jack smiled.

"I never thought I would find Oz in San Diego."


	2. Getting To Know You

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

"I'm sorry about decorations, but we figured it would be less awkward questions if we stuck Grace in the guest room for the time being and let you two share her room. It's bigger and has two twin beds instead of one double bed." Kara told Jack and Sam as she led them to where they would be staying. 

"Ah, twin beds." Jack mused.

"Colonel, she doesn't have clearance." Sam muttered.

"You're excited about twin beds?" Kara asked, slightly confused.

"Well, we are required to take undercover missions now and then, and when we do, sometimes people mistake us for a couple and leave three beds for our four member team – one of them is always a double."

"Oh, I see." The cover story clearly worked. And why shouldn't it? Most of it was true.

"Well, here's the room." Kara pushed open the door.

It was clearly an eleven-year-old girl's room. The walls were pale pink and purple, with posters of boy bands everywhere. Most of the stuffed animals and other accessories in the room had the words "Limited Too" stamped on them as well. Whatever Limited Too was, Jack didn't know, but look at how pink and frilly it all was, he didn't think he wanted to.

On the bright side, there was a large bathroom off to the side.

A somewhat more private bathroom was always a plus in Jack's eyes.

"Are you sure that Grace doesn't mind this?" Sam asked.

"Are you kidding? She wants to move in there. She thinks this room is too close to ours." Kara laughed. "Little does she know that's why we want her there."

"Isn't eleven years of age a little young to be boy crazy?" Jack asked, attempting to imitate Teal'c.

"She doesn't think so." And with that, all three of them burst into laughter.

"Well, I should leave you two to get settled. I'm sure you're both exhausted" And with that, Kara left and closed the door behind her.

Leaving Jack and Sam alone in a bed room.

There was an awkward silence.

"Well…I never thought I'd find myself at your brother's house and sharing a bedroom with you, Carter."

"Me neither, Sir."

"So what's the game plan for the week?"

"Well…today is Sunday, and this time next week we'll be curling up in our respective beds in our respective houses after a long flight home. Seth and Grace have school this week, and Kara has to work tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday, but Mark took the week off to spend with us. She's a chiropractor and he's a video game programmer. Seth has a Lacrosse game on Wednesday that might be fun to go see, Grace has a big swim meet on Thursday, and Mark suggested that we catch the Padres game on Saturday. Lacrosse practice is on Monday and Friday and Swimming is on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Grace will be able to come the game because swimming gets out at four and the game's at four-thirty. Other then that, we've got the car so we can pretty much decide for ourselves what we want to do."

"How do people with kids keep those schedules straight?"

"Beats me, Sir. Any nixes on the agenda?"

"No, it all sounds fine to me. And I brought crossword puzzles and I know you have your laptop stowed away somewhere, so we're all set for a while."

"Good. Just as long as those puzzles don't get in the way of work at the SGC, I don't mind them." Sam yawned. "Do you want first dibs on the bathroom or can I have it?"

"Sure, go ahead. Just make sure there's some hot water left by the time you get out."

"Not a problem."

Jack dug around his duffle bag and pulled out his puzzle as the door to the bathroom shut behind Carter. This was such an opportunity, one he thought he'd never have – the chance to do his puzzle on his downtime with Carter there to help him.

Life was beautiful.

But life was less and less beautiful as more and more time went by with Carter still in the bathroom.

Jack had forgotten about how Sara had been about stuff like that.

He was going to be asleep before she came out, he just knew it.

But just as his eyes were beginning to flutter shut, Carter came out.

"Well, it's about time," He said in his best Colonel voice.

"Sorry Sir."

"I have a slight suspicion that I know the answer to this, but is there any hot water left?"

"Actually, Sir, I took my shower first. There should be enough reheated by now."

She always thought of everything.

And on closer examination, she was right. The water was perfect.

* * *

"Dad!" The voice was shrill. Jack sat straight up in bed. Charlie must've had another nightmare. 

But wait. It wasn't Charlie. Charlie wasn't that shrill.

It was a girl's voice.

And then he remembered that he was at Carter's brother's place.

"Grace! Your aunt and Colonel O'Neill are trying to sleep. They had a long flight yesterday, show some respect."

Jack turned over to look at Carter's bed, only to find that it was empty.

"Aunt Sam is awake, Dad."

"But the Colonel isn't."

"I don't care! I want Seth out of this house!"

"Grace, keep your voice down. Your brother stays. I'll get back whatever he stole this time."

"Cut his tongue out. He took my journal!"

"Then it's your own fault for leaving it out. Now if you don't mind, stop screaming and come eat some breakfast."

There was a brief silence.

"Grace Ellen Carter, I will have none of that in this house. You will come down here, eat your breakfast, and keep your language and your gestures clean or you are not swimming in that meet on Thursday."

"But Dad – "

"I mean it. Are you swimming or not?"

"I'm swimming."

"Then come eat."

Jack heard Grace mutter beneath her breath but comply with her father's ruling. He assumed that she had given Mark the finger, but until he got the dibs from Carter, he couldn't be sure.

He hadn't even noticed that Carter had already gotten up, but he wasn't surprised. No matter where she was, she never stopped working. When she was on Earth, she was never without her cell phone and laptop. She was probably down at the kitchen table, seeing how things were going at work. He decided that it would be best if he went down too, so it didn't look like he was stepping on anyone's hospitality.

He was just throwing on some clean clothes when another argument broke out downstairs.

"You're supposed to be on downtime! You came here to see your dashing big brother, not check in on the base every half hour!"

"You try being in the Air Force! Down time means there is only less of a chance of being called in!"

"Could you at least tell me what you and Dad do instead of feeding me that crappy cover story?"

Oh brother. Where had he heard that one before?

Nothing got by any of the Carters, that was for sure.

"Mark, I work in Deep Space Radar Telemetry. There is no cover story!"

"Then why is Dad living there? He was only a military general when he retired, not a scientist as well!"

"You know that information is classified!"

"MARK! SAM! THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jack was impressed. Carter had been yelling at Mark like she did at McKay, and Mark had been right up there with her. Kara's being able to out shout them both was truly spectacular.

"Really. Sam is on downtime, Mark, which is why she came in the first place. She works very hard at what she does and if she needs to make sure things are running smoothly, then she needs to.

"Sorry I'm late." Jack said, entering the room. Feigning shock at the sight of her laptop, he frowned at her.

"Carter. I knew you'd bring it, but at the breakfast table? Really. Take it upstairs before we have a third shouting match."

Carter straightened up.

"Yes Sir." She quickly packed it up and took it upstairs.

"I want you back here in two minutes, Young Lady!" He called after her.

"Did Grace wake you this morning, Colonel? I'm sorry." Kara said as she bustled around. "Coffee?"

"No, I was already awake." Jack lied. The last thing he wanted was to get the child of his hosts in trouble. He didn't want to get the preteen angry, they could be vicious when they wanted to be.

"Oh, I wanted to tell you how wonderful it was to hear you out scream your husband and my 2IC. Care to teach me how you did it?" He asked as she poured him a mug of coffee.

"I live with three of them, Colonel, it's just kind of developed since the kids learned to speak." She laughed.

"Carter! Is it all put away?" He greeted her as she entered the room.

"Yes, Sir." She answered, taking her seat back and digging into her bacon.

"Good. Where's your cell phone?"

"Sir…"

"No buts, Carter. The base can live without you for a few hours. You can work later, I promise." She looked at him with a face of pure amazement.

"That's an order, Major."

She scowled at him, but pulled her phone and handed it to him anyway.

Mark was staring at them, totally incredulous.

"Jack. Care to show me how you managed that?"

"Oh yeah. It was easy. Join the Air Force and become a higher rank then she is. Works every time."

Laughter erupted around the table, even from Grace and Seth.

Thankfully, the rest of breakfast was civil. Grace told Sam and Mark how important Thursday's meet was for the team and how as one of the faster swimmers (She was taller and skinnier than everyone else, she insisted), she was highly needed to be there. Seth complained to Kara and Jack about how his game lacrosse game on didn't matter anymore as they were out of the running for the division title. When Kara finally looked at the clock, she gasped.

"Da – Dang it! I'm late. Mark, can you take the kids to school today since you don't have to work?"

"Yeah, sure. Let me grab my keys."

"Why don't Colonel O'Neill and I take them? It'll give us a chance to see the neighborhood a little bit."

"That's an idea." That'll give me sometime to make sure nobody's messing stuff up at the office."

"I thought you took the week off because your darling baby sister was in town?" Sam said with a smirk.

Mark returned the smirk. It was uncanny how much they looked alike with their faces scrunched up like that.

"Funny."

* * *

"How was school today, Grace?" Sam asked as she picked up the younger Carter child up from school. Seth had lacrosse practice and would be picked up by Kara on her way home from work later. Jack had opted to stay at the house and work on a crossword puzzle. 

"It was fine." Sam frowned at her.

"That wasn't said by the Grace. Something happened today. Do you want to talk about it?" And with that, Grace's eyes welled up with tears and she began bawling.

"Come on, Honey. Let's not do this right here, let's get in the car." Sam wrapped her arm around her niece and let her to the backseat of the white rental car. She pulled a tissue from the front seat and handed it to Grace.

"Seth told everyone what I wrote in my journal!"

"What did you write? Or rather, what did he find?"

"I have a crush on Jeremy Puzzo! And now none of the boys will leave me alone and I have four more years in this school. My life is over." And with that, she erupted into hysterical sobs again.

"Well, do you know if he likes you too?" Sam asked, not knowing if Mark would approve of the conversation they were having.

"He doesn't."

"Are you sure?"

"He has a girlfriend, Aunt Sammy. Her name is Brittany Santos and I hate her."

"Because she's Jeremy's girlfriend?"

"No, because she thinks she's amazing at everything and she's not. She thinks she's the smartest and she can't stop bragging about the A she got on her report on The Legend of Sleepy Hollow when I got an A+ on it."

Sam couldn't help but snigger. Grace managed to pull herself together long enough to look Sam in the eye.

"You think this is funny?"

"No, Grace, but Brittany just reminds me of someone I work with. He thinks he's the top scientist, but every time he makes an important decision he messes up somehow and I have to correct it."

"What's his name?"

"Rodney McKay."

"I don't like him either. He has a funny name." She tightened again.

"Brittany won't let me alone now either. She hates me even more now that she knows that I like her boyfriend."

"Well you know what? If you promise not to tell your dad, I'll tell you a secret."

"Really?" Grace perked up again.

"Yes. But you have to promise."

"I pinky swear." She held out her pinky. Sam smiled and took it with her own.

"Good. Well, Mc – Rodney gets on a lot of people's nerves, including Colonel O'Neill's. I bet that if Brittany gives you anymore trouble before we leave, Colonel O'Neill can give you some ideas on how to handle her. But you can't tell your dad."

"I won't," Grace said, a wicked smile creeping across her face.

"Good then. Let's go home."


	3. Where it Hurts The Most

A/N: I own nothing.

* * *

"How was work today, Kara?" Mark asked as the family sat down at dinner that night.

"It was good. Ray Waltrip showed up again." Grace and Seth sniggered at this and even though he tried to hide it, Mark smiled.

"What was the story this time?"

"Took his motorcycle out for a spin and didn't see a speed bump." And with that, the family cracked up.

Sam cleared her throat.

"Who's Ray Waltrip?"

"He's a patient who has bad scoliosis butalso an unfortunate liking for wrestling. He comes in every week with a new story about how he wrenched his back this time around."

"Sounds sort of like the Colonel and his booster shots."

"Easy, Major."

"Grace," Mark stated. "You've been awfully quiet tonight. Is something wrong?"

He had a point. The first sounds Grace had made that night had been the laughs at Ray Waltrip.

"No, everything's fine," She answered. "I'm just tired."

"Tired from pining over Jeremy Puzzo, maybe?" Seth sneered from across the table. Mark jerked his head away from his peas and stared at his daughter.

Grace, surprising Sam, remained calm.

"See, Dad? This is what happens when you let Seth steal journals. He reads them and then announces to the world what was in them."

"That is besides the point."

"Nothing could happen, Dad. He has a girlfriend and couldn't care less about me. Now he thinks I'm this annoying little wuss thanks to Seth."

"Well good. You can forget him. Is there anything else in that journal I should know about, Seth?"

"Mark – " Kara began.

"No, Kara. She obviously doesn't tell us everything anymore. Seth?"

"No, that was it, Dad."

The rest of the dinner was eaten in silence.

* * *

The next day was bright and sunny, beautiful for watching a sports game. Jack was slightly excited about seeing a Lacrosse game. He had never seen one and was slightly curious about the sport. And if sixth grade boys were playing it with as much padding as pro hockey players, it had to be rough.

And boy, was he right.

In the first ten minutes of the game, there were a few broken fingers and numerous fouls. Jack was impressed by Seth's performance on the field, even though his team was getting clobbered.

It was a shame, really. Seth deserved to be on a better team. He was just that good.

By halftime, the score was 8-2. Seth had scored both goals for his team.

The dance team came out onto the field to do their little halftime performance. Now, this was always the part of Charlie's games that Jack had always slept through. Were they really necessary?

When they were done, a single girl walked out onto the field with a microphone. Clearly, this was not expected, because both teams looked up from their huddles with confused looks on their faces. Grace's eyes went wide and she instantly hid her face behind Sam.

"Hello everybody," the girl said into her microphone. "I would just like to take a moment to announce to everyone that Jeremy Puzzo belongs to me, Brittany Santos, not, unlike you may have heard, to Grace Carter. Thanks very much."

The student population in the crowd broke into laughter and Sam could feel the back of her sweatshirt becoming wet. Mark reached over and grabbed the back of Grace's windbreaker to pull her into a sitting position.

"Stand tall. Don't look defeated. And remember – this is what you get for writing things down."

Grace stiffened and didn't say anything else through the game.

* * *

"Carter!" Jack barked as the two of them got ready for bed that night. "I need a two word, seven letter phrase for the clue 'loud beginning'."

"Big bang," Sam muttered from behind her book.

"Smart aleck," he muttered as he erased 'bad fart' from the puzzle and replaced it with the correct answer. He could hear Carter yawning from the other side of the room.

"Time for darkness now, Carter?"

"Yes Sir, if you don't mind."

"I'm tired too, so beddy bye actually sounds good to me too. Goodnight, Carter.'

"Good night, Colonel O'Neill."

Jack stretched out in the tiny twin bed and smiled. Today had been a good day. He had finished one crossword and started another and had done it without Carter yelling at him for some half-ass answer. She hadn't seen the bad fart one.

He was just drifting off into lala land when a pillow hit him against the side of the head.

Hard.

He sat up straight, just as his military training had taught him.

"Carter!" He barked, trying not to wake Mark and Kara in the other room.

"Yes?" Two voices answered.

Wait.

Two voices? That wasn't right.

"Colonel? Did you call me?"

"Major Carter, did you just whack me with a pillow?"

"No, Sir."

"Alrighty, then. I know one of you is in her. Are you Seth or Grace?"

"Grace." A small voice answered meekly.

"Grace," Sam started in a stern voice. "You should've woken me or your parents up, not Colonel O'Neill."

"I'm sorry," Grace said, her bottom lip trembling. "But Auntie Sam, you told me that if I needed a prank, I should ask the Colonel just as long as I didn't let my dad know!"

Jack glared at Sam.

"And when did you tell your niece this, Car – Sam?"

"Yesterday, Sir." She looked to the girl, who was now sitting on what usually was her bed. "Why in the middle of the night?"

"Because Dad has been keeping an eye on me. He thinks I'm going to do something bad, but all I did was write that I like Jeremy Puzzo in my diary." Her bottom lip quivered it like it had when Sam picked her up from school two days previously.

"Well now, this can't keep going on," Jack said, realizing how scared the girl was.

Carter sighed.

"Sir, I'm sorry she woke you up. Grace, go back to bed, and you can talk to the Colonel tomorrow – "

"Sam, you misunderstand me. Grace cannot live under this tyranny any longer. Now Grace, what makes Brittany mad? What is it that really makes her tick?"

Grace thought for a minute.

"Well, she's really full of herself. She thinks she's better then the rest of us because her parents take her shopping every weekend. She hates it when people copy her."

"Perfect. Do you know anywhere she's going to be this week that it wouldn't be suspicious if I'm around?"

"She's on the swim team."

"Your swim team?"

"Yeah."

"Even better. Do you know what her bathing suit looks like?"

Grace nodded.

"Sam, get your laptop out. We need your wireless connection."

* * *

The pool where Grace and her team swam was not far from the school. Jack found this helpful, as his sense of direction was anything but good.

Since Grace was a little nervous about the scrutiny her parents were putting her under after the diary leak, it was only natural that she ask them that Sam be the one to help her take her stuff to the locker room. Jack went with Mark, Kara and Seth to claim bleacher seats.

Sam was going to the locker room with Grace for several reasons. One, team rules stated that an adult must accompany all swimmers under the age of fourteen. Two, better Sam then Kara – Kara was neutral on the way Brittany was treating her daughter and she didn't know about the plan.

"Brittany, Darling, how are you?" Grace said, entering the locker room. Sam smiled – Grace was really getting into it.

"Don't call me darling, Carter." The girl sneered. "Jeremy is mine, and don't you forget it."

"Never, Brittany, never. Is this your new suit? It's so cute!" Grace said, picking it up. Truth was, it was the uniform suit so it looked like everyone else's, but Brittany took compliments when ever she could get them, and her mother was walking towards them.

"Thank you, Grace. Where's your mom?"

"Out on the bleachers. This is my Aunt Sam."

"Hello, Ms. Carter." Mrs. Santos said. It's so nice to meet you. Grace, shouldn't you be getting your suit on as well?"

"Yes, I just stopped by to say hi. Come on, Aunt Sam, I need to get ready."

They strolled to Grace's locker, which was on the other side of the room.

"Did you do it?" Sam muttered as they opened Grace's bag.

"Yup," The two of them burst into silent giggles.

Ten minutes later, Sam joined the rest of the Carters and Jack on the bench.

"Carter!" Jack barked.

"Yes?" Four voices answered him.

"Er, sorry…Sam! Did everything work out?"

"Did what work out?" Mark asked.

"General Hammond says everything's fine, Sir. Mark, General Hammond has a paging system. Each team shares a beeper number, and each member of the team has a buzz number. We always have to have our beepers on us. The Colonel and I just felt two buzzes – my page."

Jack gave Sam a look of sheer admiration. She was good at coming up with stories.

Seth was suddenly interested.

"Can I see your beeper, Aunt Sam?"

"No, Seth. We can't lend them out to anyone, even for a few minutes."

Seth looked disappointed, but he didn't press the matter farther.

The teams were beginning to assemble. Grace, Brittany, and two other girls wearing blue were lining up against four girls sporting red bathing suits.

"On your mark, get set, go!" A ref on the side of the pool shouted.

For eleven year olds, the speed of the swimmers was impressive. The Carters sure are athletic, Jack thought to himself as he watched them speed from side to side.

He nudged Sam.

"How long will it take?" He muttered to her.

"Not long, Sir, not long."

Thirty seconds later, as this particular race was drawing to an end, a red trail began to follow Brittany down the pool. A whistle was blown, and the swimmers instantly put on the brakes.

"Miss Santos, you are disqualified." The ref said. "Everyone else, out of the pool!"

It took Brittany only seconds to figure out why she was being DQed.

"Hey! Someone sabotaged me! I did not pee in this pool!"

"By the looks of things, Miss, you did. Now, clear the way!"

Flustered, Brittany climbed out of the pool and stormed into the locker room.

Sam and Jack shared a grin. When they were coming up with the plan, Sam had looked up where she could find a store nearby that sold sponges in a capsule. Upon retrieving the required information, Sam had bought some, removed the sponges from them, and then coated the inside with nail polish remover, making the insides waterproof. Once the inner coat was dry, Jack filled it with hot water with a syringe he had stolen from Janet. The two of them had then given this to Grace who put it on the inside of Brittany's bathing suit when she "admired" it.

They had done good. Real good.

And both of them felt even better when they saw Grace's team pull out a win to go on to the State Tournament.

* * *

"That one's going in the books, Carter," Jack said, stretched out in his seat on the plane ride home.

"Definitely one to be proud of. Though I can't stop thinking…she was only eleven. Don't you think Grace should've had more to do with all of it?"

"Aw, Carter, the kid had it coming. Your niece did nothing wrong, she only came to the master and his accomplice for help."

"I'm glad we're going home now, though. I've got a lot of work to get back to."

"Such as?"

"Such as making sure Siler hasn't blown the place up."

"You have a point."

There was a moment of silence.

"Carter?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Thanks for inviting me along. Despite what you may think, I really enjoyed myself this week."

"I'm glad, Sir. Grace really liked you."

"I noticed. She started calling me Uncle Jack by the end." At this, Carter couldn't suppress a laugh.

One thing about this trip that Jack really enjoyed was watching his 2IC relax. In the seven years he had known her, this was the calmest he had seen her. It was a different side. He liked it. She was not the workaholic Carter.

She was just Sam.

Some things could change, he thought to himself.

* * *

"Well Carter, it's back to the everyday life," Jack groaned as he pulled his duffle bag from the overhead compartment.

"Yes Sir, it is." Carter answered him, sounding a bit too gleeful.

He had to get her out of the mountain more often.

It was only when he was stepping off the exit tunnel that a small, quick figure launched itself at him and Jack once again felt the all too familiar sting.

"BLOODY HELL!" He screeched. Every security officer, ticket collector, and passenger stopped what they were doing to stare at him.

"Everything is alright folks, continue what you were doing." Jack called, reaching down to pick up his bags.

"How did you figure this one, Doc?"

"I traced your credit card," Janet said with a smirk. Jack winced. The Padres Game. They had lost. He knew he shouldn't have done the nice thing and buy all six tickets.

"Then I realized that you and Major Carter were together, so you were most likely coming back on the same flight."

"Excuse me, Sir," A large security guard had made his way over to where the trio stood. "You are blocking the way here. May I see some ID please?"

"Sure," Jack replied, pulling his military badge out of his pocket.

It was enough for the security guard, who apologized and left.

Janet and Sam walked slightly ahead of Jack, doing their girly gossipy catching up. Jack shook his head at the diminutive doctor.

This week had been good for him overall, only to be shattered by the person he had been running away from.

Some things would never change, no matter how much he wanted them to.

Napoleonic Needle Pusher.


End file.
